Lt. Commander Mollie Sanders

by Miller, Mitchell R.

  “Somewhat aloof, but that’s understandable, considering.”

  Degama nodded. “It certainly is.”

  “No, sir. I meant because of, well, you know …”

  “And have there been any incidents of sexual, um, miscond ..um, harassment?”

  No reason to voice unproven suspicions. “Not that I’ve heard about, sir.”

  “Let’s keep it that way,” the captain said.

  “Aye, aye, sir.”

  Richard left the captain’s cabin and headed for the officers’ wardroom. He needed a cup of coffee. What the hell was going on? Surfacing at the Arctic ice cap?

  When he reached the wardroom he saw Sanders having coffee. No reason not to join her.

  He grabbed a cup of coffee and sat across from her. “We’ll be surfacing at the Arctic within the hour.”

  “What? Did the captain say why?”

  “Courtesy call on a Russian ice station.”

  He saw the slightest tensing of her muscles. What was she thinking?

  She said, “Thanks for the heads up.”

  She rose, dropped her cup in the dirty dishes bin, and headed out of the wardroom.

  “Where are you going?” Richard said. “We’re surfacing soon and you’ll be needed in the CIC. The captain should be there already.”

  “I’ll be there,” she said over her shoulder.

  **

  Mollie stood outside the captain’s quarters, listening. Then she opened the cabin door without knocking and entered.

  She went over to the instrument repeater panel and took a tiny screwdriver from a one of her pockets. She bent over the panel and fiddled with her screwdriver.

  Moments later she left the captain’s quarters and returned to her console in the control room.

  “Sonar?” Degama said.

  A sailor said, “The pack is drifting about point 1 knots southsoutheast, sir. Bearing 20. Ranges between 10 and 20 feet thick, sir.”

  “Conn?” Degama said.

  “Assuming that floe drift is constant, we’re within a kilometer of the station, sir,” the XO said.

  “Never assume anything, Commander,” Degama said. “If it’s not constant?”

  “No more than two kilometers, Captain,” the XO said.

  “Very well. Up periscope. Let’s look for an ice skylight.”

  Mollie’s hands flickered over her console, carrying out the up periscope order.

  Degama pressed several buttons and a window appeared in the corner of the screen, showing a cross-section of the ice floe on a grid screen.

  Mollie watched as Degama used the trackball to maneuver the scope. He watched the cross-section view and finally found a thin spot. He pointed to the screen.

  “Right there, XO. Take her up.”

  The XO checked his own console screen, which showed the sub’s position compared to the spot the captain had picked.

  “Rudder 20 degrees right,” the XO said. “Ahead slow. Down periscope. Leave it on.”

  The XO picked up a telephone. His voice could be heard over the squawkbox. “Rig for ice surface.”

  The captain turned to the XO. “I’m leaving the ship in your command. I will be gone about an hour.”

  “Aye, aye, sir. I’ll assemble an escort.”

  “Not necessary,” the captain said.

  **

  1300 hours

  Mollie had given the captain time to leave the ship but not so much time that he could be back already. Now she again entered his cabin and reached behind the repeater panel.

  The circuit board was not there!

  But wasn’t that why she had first checked immediately after the XO told her about the stop? So that she could compare then to now.

  **

  Arctic Ice Pack

  1315 hours

  Reasonably warm in his international orange parka and making good headway on his snow shoes, Degama approached the ice station.

  “Station” might be too grand a word he thought. It was simply a shack with a stovepipe and a radio antenna coming through the roof. Around the hut he could see tents, Sno-Cats and other arctic equipment.

  He knew this was the moment of truth. But he had come this far and he couldn’t turn back without possibly causing an international incident.

  He also knew that some people might think him a traitor. But he wasn’t. He was simply handing over experimental equipment from a civilian manufacturer. He and the other two middlemen scheduled to be here were doing a straight trade exchange.

  And, yes, there were Henry and Joseph waiting for him in front of the shack. Things were going ahead as planned.

  Minutes later Degama sat at a little table in the shack. Besides Henry and Joseph, the Russian commander was also present. In fact, the commander busied himself pouring Russian vodka into four glasses.

  The men saluted and drank.

  Then Henry nodded and reached behind him, pulling a small bundle from a battered cabinet. He placed the bundle on the table.

  Degama picked it up, unwrapped only a corner, checked the contents, then reclosed the bundle and palmed it into his parka as if this were a magician’s trick.

  “Now you see it, now you don’t,” he said.

  “One moment,” Joseph said. “Where is your package?”

  “Watch closely – nothing up my sleeves,” Degama said.

  He reached into his parka and took out a bottle of Wild Turkey and placed it on the table. He laughed, then reached inside his parka again and pulled out the ANQ-GENY-246 circuit board.

  “This is a magic trick?” Henry asked. “This will disappear?”

  “No trick,” Degama said and lifted his glass.

  Henry grabbed Degama, causing some of the vodka to splash on him. Degama tried to pull away from Henry. But Henry stopped him, giving him a big Russian kiss on both cheeks. Joseph did the same. Degama forced a smile.

  The Russian commander motioned towards the door and Degama got up to leave.

  As he did, Henry said, “We will return to our sub and test this immediately.”

  Degama nodded that he understood.

  Then he went outside, put his snow shoes back on, and made his way back to the sub. He would tell the XO that the friendship visit had gone well, as indeed it had.

  Only a few dozen yards away now – he could see the sub’s lookout watching through binoculars.

  Suddenly a sound like that of artillery fire. And the ice near him cracked. Degama lost his balance as the icepack shifted radically.

  A crevasse ruptured right in front of him, and he couldn’t stop in time. He fell into it, and his face hit the ice.

  **

  With a first aid kit slung over his parka, Brombard led an away team over the side of the boat, several of the men carrying ropes and other emergency equipment. The XO had chosen Brombard to lead the rescue party after the lookout had telephoned that the captain was down and a medic was needed.

  As they came closer to the captain, the ice shifted again. Brombard held up a hand to stop. They waited a few minutes until the ice quieted, then advanced almost to the crevasse.

  Brombard motioned to the men to stand back. He got on his stomach and crawled forward to the edge and peered over.

  Shit! The captain lay at the bottom of the crevasse, a path of blood down one side.

  Brombard called down to the captain but got no answer.

  He yelled at the men behind him. “Get me a line and attach another line to a rescue lift.”

  The men threw him a rope and he knotted this around his waist. Then he turned his body around so that his legs swung over the crevasse.

  “Lower away slowly,” he said.

  He descended down the side of the crevasse, the men above him straining to balance his weight.

  When he reached the bottom, he yelled up to the men. Then he checked the captain for head and neck injuries. He located a gash on the captain’s head. Opening his first aid kit, he found what he needed and bandaged the gash.

 
; “Lower the lift,” he called up.

  The men lowered the lift and Brombard slid the captain into it and fastened him in.

  “Now haul away! Handsomely!” he called.

  Brombard watched the lift rise slowly out of the crevasse, occasionally jerking as the ice continued to pop. Then he saw the lift pulled over the lip of the crevasse.

  He grabbed hold of the rope still tied to his waist. “Now haul me up!”

  Once back on the ice, Brombard instructed the men to transfer the captain from the lift to a collapsible stretcher.

  “Steady there,” he said as they walked carefully back to the ship – the ice continually shifting around them.

  Finally they reached the side of the sub and lifted the stretcher up to waiting hands.

  **

  Degama’s Cabin

  Richard and Sanders waited for the captain in his cabin. Scuffling feet outside the room alerted Richard to Degama’s arrival.

  Two men carried Degama into the cabin and slid him off onto his bunk. When they left the small space, Brombard entered.

  “He may only have a simple concussion,” Brombard said. “See, he seems to be waking up.”

  “Captain, Captain,” Richard said to him.

  Suddenly Degama shook all over – he’s having a seizure Richard realized.

  “Sanders, hold him down,” he ordered. Richard held down Degama’s arms, leaving Sanders to hold the captain’s feet.

  Brombard jammed a tongue depressor into Degama’s mouth to prevent him from swallowing his tongue. His body went limp.

  “Captain, Captain,” Richard repeated. No response.

  “He might have a subdural hematoma,” Brombard said.

  “Can you deal with it?” Richard asked.

  “No, they don’t teach brain surgery to medics. Can we get a chopper up here?”

  “Too far,” Richard said.

  “How ‘bout the Russians?” Brombard said. “Get him to the ice station. He can be flown out from there.”

  Sanders held up a hand. “It’s too risky for the men to cross the icepack again.”

  Richard shook his head. “We’ll have to chance it.”

  “Russian medical care is lousy,” Sanders said. “We can get him to Alaska.”

  “It will take too long,” Richard said. “We have to get him help now.”

  He saw that Sanders was about to disagree, but she shut her mouth, let out a breath and said, “Aye, aye, sir.”

  Richard fought back a grin. “Sanders, you’re in command till I get back. Just sit tight.”

  She gestured at him. “Let me come with. I speak Russian and I want to ensure the medical person there knows what he’s doing.”

  Richard shook his head. “Stay with the boat. That’s an order.”

  Forty-five minutes later Richard, Brombard and two sailors stood in the ice station with Degama lying on a cot, a Russian medic leaning over him.

  The Russian commander said, “We take good care of him. Is stabilizing him. Then we fly him to hospital in Moscow. Your American embassy take over from there.”

  Richard hesitated. Maybe Sanders was right.

  The Russian commander smiled. “Leaving him in good hands. Have nice voyage!”

  Richard looked at the unconscious figure of the captain, then at Brombard, who nodded.

  “I appreciate your help,” Richard said.

  Richard placed his right hand on Degama’s shoulder, then turned and led the other three men out of the ice station.

  CHAPTER XV – DOUBLECROSSED

  Ice Station

  September 20

  Henry and Joseph burst into the ice station, startling the Russian commander.

  “It’s a fake,” Henry said. “Degama gave us nonworking parts. He swindled us.”

  “We’re going to go after the Neptune,” Joseph said. “Force Degama to give us what he promised.”

  The Russian commander smiled. “You don’t have to go to the sub for Degama. He’s here.”

  “Here?”

  “He was injured on the icepack. He’s unconscious. We’re going to fly him out.”

  Henry and Joseph smiled at each other.

  **

  Control Room

  Mollie saw the XO enter the control room. He announced: “Prepare to dive.”

  Martinez said: “You’re leaving the captain with the Russians?”

  “I had no choice. They’ll fly him out. We have a mission to compete.”

  What a mistake Mollie thought. She gritted her teeth to keep from saying so.

  Over the squawkbox came Perez’s voice: “Mr. Stewart, I intercepted a transmission from the Russian ice station. Have we got somebody on board who speaks Russian?”

  “Patch it to the DSO console,” Mollie said.

  Mollie grabbed the headset from her console and jammed it on.

  “Again,” she said.

  She concentrated on the sounds, then turned to the XO. “It’s a reference to a chess move – Fischer-Uelnov, 1963.”

  “What the hell does that mean?”

  Mollie tapped keys on her laptop. A chess game appeared.

  “White’s seventh move. Black knight is trapped.”

  “Some kind of code?” the XO asked.

  From the squawkbox Perez said: “Not in any standard message format, sir.”

  “I’d guess double talk,” Mollie said. “Amateurs use it to conceal what they’re saying. Like a code, but stupider.”

  “Who’s the black knight?” the XO asked.

  “Since most people give themselves white, probably the opposition.”

  “Degama?”

  Mollie thought before replying. “Possibly.”

  Martinez said: “Or it could be somebody playing a chess game by radio.”

  Mollie saw the XO hesitate, then he said, “Why would you give the name of the famous game you got the move from? And why an American versus a Russian match? Too much of a coincidence. The skipper could be in danger.”

  Mollie got up and walked over to the XO. She spoke only for his ears: “May I speak to you in private, sir?”

  Outside the control room Mollie and the XO stood inches apart. “Yes, Commander,” he said.

  Mollie avoided his eyes at first, then looked directly at him. “It’s possible the captain may have been selling classified material to the Russians.”

  She stepped back, afraid in his shock he might strike her.

  “Are you crazy?”

  Mollie held up one hand. “Just listen a minute. Before Neptune sailed I found an unauthorized duplicate of the circuit board for the new navigation system. It was attached to the captain’s repeater panel.”

  “What do you mean unauthorized?”

  “It’s not listed in the inventory nor does it show up in the electronic circuitry information.”

  For a moment the XO said nothing. Then he asked, “What are you saying?”

  “I’m saying I can’t account for it and that worries me.”

  He glared at her. “I don’t suppose you might have missed a listing somewhere?”

  She glared back. “And now the extra circuit board is gone.”

  “How do you know?”

  Mollie hesitated for a moment. “I checked the captain’s quarters after he left for the ice station.”

  “How dare you!”

  Mollie spread her hands as if in acceptance of his rebuke. “Look, if this were an official deal, the card wouldn’t have been hidden – it would have been in his safe.”

  “What does this have to do with the chess message?”

  Mollie allowed herself a slight smile. “By now the Russians have had time to discover the card doesn’t function.”

  “What!”

  “I disabled the card. It can’t be used. At least not until they get it back to a lab for reverse engineering.”

  The XO’s look was frightening. “You placed the captain’s life in danger! You could be court-martialed.”

  Mollie returned the lo
ok. “I’m telling you the captain has sold classified equipment to the Russians – and you’re threatening me with a court-martial!”

  The XO broke eye contact. “We’ll have to go back for him now.”

  “Another trip on the icepack? How long can our luck hold?”

  The XO turned and strode back into the control room; Mollie followed.

  “Chief of the Boat,” he said, “assemble a rescue party. Eight men with rifles.”

  He turned back to her. “And you’ll have to come too. I want someone who can speak Russian.” Mollie repressed a smile.

  Wozniak spoke up. “You’re in contradiction of standard operating procedure for visiting research stations. We’re not to go armed here.”

  The XO shot Wozniak a look. “We’re hunting polar bears. I’ll take the responsibility. Sanders, get your arctic gear.”

  The XO picked up the microphone: “Now hear this. This is the XO speaking. We believe the captain may be in danger. We are going to retrieve him from the Russians. Mr. Martinez has command of the boat.”

  He put down the microphone. “Master-at-Arms, proceed to the arms locker and issue M-16s and ammunition to the rescue party. Get a Beretta for me and for the DSO.”

  Mollie shook her head. “I don’t need the pistol.”

  The XO shrugged and Mollie left the control room and returned to her rack after getting an arctic parka and snow shoes. She lifted up her bunk to reach underneath into her personal storage space. Then she pulled out the gun she had brought from her BOQ, loaded a magazine, and slipped the gun and her other mag into her arctic parka.

  Minutes later she stood alongside the Neptune on the ice pack with the XO and eight men, all of whom were armed with M-16s. Two of the men were Brombard and Perez, who also carried a collapsible litter between them.

  The XO signaled to set off on foot toward the Russian ice station.

  With every step Mollie expected to hear the ice cracking. But their luck held and they reached the ice station without any new problems.

  The XO signaled to six of the men to stay outside. He motioned Mollie, Brombard and Perez to come with him.

  When they barged into the ice station they caught two men and the Russian captain by surprise. The XO turned to her: “Do your stuff.”

  In Russian Mollie said: “Gentlemen, there’s been a change of plans. We’ve decided to take Captain Degama with us.”